The peculiar painful limbo of David Shulkin shows how the president often handles personnel matters - publicly, hoping the employee will leave instead of forcing an ouster. Here, as described in this New York Times article, Trump follows a common tactic used by bullies - forcing employees to quit rather than firing them. Many interpret this as cowardly; it’s not. Bullies usually take perverse pleasure in making people’s lives miserable to the point where they break.

Most fall into what I refer to in ‘Vera’s Story’ on page 9 in the introduction of my book as ‘The Bully’s Trap’, where the target becomes what the bully wants them to become - a poor performer with a bad attitude - in essence the villain rather than the victim. Some choose to leave. Others, like Rex Tillerson, force the bully’s hand. Yet, other’s commit suicide. Precious few are not forced out.